Following the acrimonious split with former CEO Meyer back in January, the chip firm has, just like Intel, performed better than expected in the first quarter of this year with the popularity of its Fusion APU chips bringing in more cash.

According to Thomas Seifert, chief financial officer and temping through Office Angels as CEO, the financial result are due to the high number shipments of low end computers and netbooks which “greatly exceeded” the company’s original expectations.

This was echoed by analysts with JoAnne Feeney of Longbow Research reiterating that she “didn’t really expect much from AMD in the first half” with steps made in the low end PC and netbook markets to lead to a “big push” towards the end of the year.

The financial results also come despite Gartner and IDC both recently stating that the worldwide PC market showed a decline for the first time since the recession in the first quarter.

Regardless of this, Intel and AMD both expect to see double digit growth during the year, with AMD banking on an 11 percent increase.

The stage is now set for AMD to continue with its success of doubling profits to $510 million, up from $257 million, with the mainstream Llano-based chip systems which will be arriving this quarter according to Seifert.

Another factor in the financial increase for AMD was the decision to sell off its manufacturing operations to Globalfoundries, resulting in $492 non cash gain according to the WSJ(subscription needed).

While AMD’s shares are down 11 percent over the last year, it seems that the usurping of Dirk Meyer has, for now at least, seemed to have paid off, with Seifert also noting that the board is “very happy” with the interest it has received from new candidates, so we can barely comprehend how ecstatic he will be when they finally do replace him.